A storm front that brought lightning and a bit of rain to Southern Utah on Thursday night was a reminder that the late-summer monsoon season has begun in the Southwest.

The National Weather Service office in Salt Lake City issued a hazardous weather outlook Friday with a forecast for additional thunderstorms and scattered rain showers through the weekend and into the first half of next week.

Mike Seaman, a meteorologist at the NWS, said the conditions most favorable for thunderstorms will occur in the mid-to-late evening hours after the heat of the day has begun to taper off.

The forecast includes a flash flood watch through the weekend – “nothing is imminent,” Seaman said, but as storms develop and begin to produce rain officials are prepared to issue flood warnings in areas deemed most at risk.

The hazardous weather outlook states the potential storm zone is in the western two-thirds of Utah as well as a portion of southwestern Wyoming, but the most significantly affected areas will be in Southern Utah.

“(Thursday night) there was fairly widespread flooding in the Zion area. … Primarily in the slot canyons at the southern half of the park,” Seaman said.

St. George Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Taylor said Thursday’s lightning show also is believed to have resulted in two house strikes.

“I think we concluded that was indeed what happened. … Just based on eyewitnesses in the area who said there were numerous close-proximity strikes,” he said.

Fire officials were investigating a report of a lightning strike on a home in the Southgate area when they received word of the second strike near the St. George Regional Airport shortly before 9 p.m. The second home caught fire and sustained “significant damage,” although a large part of the residence still remained standing, Taylor said.

“It’s just nature. Lightning will do what it wants to do,” he said. “We probably get a house hit by lightning at least once a year. I’d estimate the ones that actually cause fires are about 30 percent.”

No one was hurt in either incident, he said.

Arizona’s National Weather Service forecast some isolated storms in the northeastern portion of the state beyond Flagstaff through Wednesday. Las Vegas’ NWS office reported some rainfall through that valley that would aggravate flooding in some neighborhoods with the possibility of flash flooding on some area roads. But the forecast was for clearing weather beginning Saturday.

The continued precipitation in Utah on Saturday led to concerns about flash flooding in Iron County in the area denuded by the massive Brian Head Fire in June and July. The weather service issued a flash flood warning for the burn scar area, anticipating "imminent debris flow."

Department of Public Safety officials advise motorists that one of the key things they can do on monsoon-wet roads is to slow down below the normal speed limit.

It’s also important to watch for pooling water that may affect driving, and to leave “plenty of room” between vehicles.